Apparatus for launching incendiary spheres

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for launching incendiary spheres for prescribed burning is provided. This apparatus receives ‘charged’, or injected, spherical plastic incendiaries, then launches them for a distance. The charged incendiaries are first emitted from a conventional Plastic Sphere Dispenser (PSD) into the intake of the apparatus whereupon they roll into a slotted basin, from which they are picked up individually immediately upon entry and carried by a delivering wheel to a juncture point&#39;between a plurality of spinning wheels. These spinning wheels convey velocity to each incendiary sphere, which is thereby launched in a trajectory that is determined by the plane of orientation, and the rotational velocity, of the spinning wheels.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to intentional burning, often called ‘prescribedburning’ for wild-land and wildlife management purposes, and inparticular to an apparatus for launching incendiary spheres for thepurpose of conducting such prescribed burning.

2. Brief Description of the Related Art

Prescribed burning is a common activity that is well recognized toproduce many wild-land, environmental, agricultural and wildlifebenefits. A variety of methods and devices are employed to do this. Onemain methodology uses flammable liquid or, flammable sludge, which isignited as it exits the ignition device. Examples of such devices rangefrom hand held ‘drip torches’ to helicopter slung ‘heli-torches’, or tovehicle-mounted or vehicle-towed devices, often called ‘terra-torches’,which eject ignited fuel under pressure much as does a military-typeflamethrower. All flammable liquid methods carry with them certaindisadvantages. The first such disadvantage is the obvious potentialdanger to the personnel who operate these devices. Such danger may arisefor instance as an unintended consequence of misdirected flame, orpossibly by explosion. Secondly, although such devices are effective forstarting fires, they tend to consume a large quantity of fuel relativeto both the number of fires they start, and to the total area they burn;consequently there exists an ongoing need to re-fuel these devices,which includes the storage, transportation, and often mixing of fuel,which imposes a significant operational challenge in the field. Thisre-fueling requirement also adds environmental risk and significantexpense. Thirdly, there exist several physical limitations regarding thedesign, construction, and operation of any mechanical device whichprocesses and ignites flammable liquids. Such limitations can be relatedfor instance to the need to avoid fuel or flame leakage, or to mitigatethe consequences if such leakage occurs, or to other design restrictionsdue to the potentially detrimental effect of burning fuel upon themechanical or electrical components of the device. These are some of thereasons why it is desirable to design and employ an ignition apparatuswhich processes neither flammable liquid, nor flame itself.

One existing method of igniting prescribed burns which avoids the needto emit ignited liquids is that commonly referred to as ‘delayedignition’. The most common method of delayed ignition is a machine thatprocesses plastic incendiary spheres. Such a machine is known as a“plastic sphere dispenser” (PSD). Each plastic sphere is partly filledwith an incendiary such as potassium permanganate, and, as the sphere isprocessed within the machine it is injected with a reactant such asethylene glycol. As a result, after a delay of about 20-40 seconds, thenow-mixed chemicals react with one another to create flame, which thencauses the plastic sphere to burn. This burning sphere becomes thesource of ignition for whatever ground material is intended to be burnt.The main advantage of delayed ignition is the delay itself. This is whatallows for a method, or device, that does not have to process actualflame with all of the difficulties associated with doing so, but ratherit processes what can be referred to as a ‘pre-flame’ incendiary sphere.This ‘delayed ignition’ technique is the method referenced in thepresent invention.

It is often desirable to conduct prescribed burning from the air. Thisis especially true if the terrain is difficult or impossible to traverseby ground, or if the area to be burnt is very large, in which case thetime required to do so by traditional ground based methods may exceedthe time window within which optimal burning conditions (wind speed anddirection, temperature, relative humidity, etc.) can be expected topersist. When prescribed burning is conducted from the air, this isusually done by helicopter. This can be done by ‘fleli-torch’ aspreviously mentioned, or, it can be done by installing a PSD within thecabin of the helicopter. A P SD is capable of producing ‘charged’, orinjected spheres, which are dropped by gravity from the aircraft to theground. There are presently several PSD machines on the market, to sitethe four known such devices by their marketing name, they are: the ‘MarkIII’, the ‘Red Dragon™’ (US 2010101401 A1), the Mark V′ and the‘Spitfire’™ (CA 2,761,242/U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/061,511).There exist other devices which dispense delayed-ignition capsules suchas the Raindance R2 (U.S. Pat. No. 7,451,679 B2) but these are notrelevant to this general discussion because they do not dispenseincendiaries that are sphere shaped.

All of the above PSD machines however are restricted by their design inthat, by themselves, they can only practically be used by helicopter.Were it attempted to deploy one by ground vehicle the consequence wouldbe of very little practical benefit. This is because the PSD machine, byitself, is not capable of launching the charged incendiary for adistance; it can only drop it straight down by gravity. This isperfectly acceptable and practical of course when using the PSD byhelicopter because it is merely a matter of maneuvering the helicopterdirectly over the area that is desired to be burned, but the samemachine, if deployed by ground vehicle, would only drop the incendiaryright on the trail that the vehicle is travelling on. In nearly everycase it is not the trail itself that is desired to be burned but thearea beside the trail; this desired adjacent area could be anywhere froma few feet away to a hundred feet or more from the trail. This thereforeexplains the rationale for the present invention; namely: to provide anapparatus which will receive a charged incendiary from a PSD machine andthen launch it for a distance, thus allowing a helicopter-deployed PSDmachine to also be used by ground vehicle. Given the fact that anincendiary, once charged is about to burst in flame in about 25 secondstime, and another one is normally coming right behind it, the launchermust operate quickly and it must operate jam free. It must also becapable of reliably processing incendiaries no matter what rate(expressed in balls per minute or “BPM”) they are received by it. In thepreferred embodiment for instance the present invention is capable oflaunching incendiaries at any rate between 1 and 200 BPM, which ofcourse is a very widely varied BPM range, a greater range than anyexisting PSD machine is capable of producing.

As will be seen, the present invention launches the incendiary by meansof contact with a spinning wheel, or wheels. The applicant recognizes alarge number of devices exist which launch a sphere, or ball by means ofcontact with a spinning wheel or wheels, however, applicant is not awareof such devices being used to launch an incendiary sphere. The majorityof the known ball launchers relate to some sporting activity thatemploys, as of course many do, some type of ball. For the most part,these sport ball throwers launch balls for the purpose of practice ortraining. It seems that for every sport that uses a ball there is amechanical machine that can be used to launch that ball in series forpractice or training purposes. This is certainly true for tennis,baseball, softball, basketball and football (often called ‘soccer’ inNorth America). Tennis is particularly well represented in the categoryof ball throwing machines that employ spinning wheels to launch theballs: the Lobster Company produces several models including ELITEseries and GRAND series; there is also the Silent Partner Company whichproduces the LITE, the SPORT, and the STAR, and there are several othercompanies which produce similar products. Spinning wheel machines arealso used with baseballs, softballs, basketballs and soccer balls. Inthe case of baseballs and softballs it is also known to employ only asingle wheel in combination with a ‘kick plate’ which biases the ballagainst the spinning wheel, as opposed to the much more common two-wheelconfiguration used in the vast majority of sport ball throwers.

Therefore, while it is recognized that there are a great variety andquantity of machines, especially sport ball throwers in existence whichdo employ a spinning wheel or wheels to convey velocity to a sphere, noexisting spinning-wheel machine of any description launches chargedincendiary spheres, and this is despite the fact that delayed-ignitionincendiary spheres have been in use for prescribed burning for about25-30 years now. Also, it must be emphasized that the technicalperformance requirements for an incendiary sphere launcher in comparisonto a sport ball thrower are of an altogether more exacting, critical andchallenging nature. No tennis expert needs to be trained to handle threeballs per second, and no sport ball is about to burst on fire if it jamsinside the throwing machine The two mechanisms in particular which thepresent invention employs, and sport ball throwers do not, in order toensure this exacting perfoimance standard are the inclusion of a‘delivering wheel’ and a ‘slotted basin’. These two features will bemore fully described in the paragraphs that follow.

The above discussion addresses machines that launch spheres by means ofcontact with spinning wheels, which is the general methodology employedin the present invention, but that is not to say that there exists nomachines that launch charged incendiaries. A series of delayed-ignitiondevices are produced by Field Support Services of Atlanta, Ga. ThePyroShot™ (U.S. Pat. No. 7,275,529) is a spring loaded ‘hand launcherfor ground ignition’ which indicates, of course, that it is intended foruse by personnel while walking on foot. The same company has alsoproduced an HS model which includes a CO2 tank for the purpose ofpropelling the charged sphere for a longer distance. Further, the samecompany, in partnership with another company has recently introduced itsGreen Dragon™ product (U.S. Pat. No. 8,316,750 /CA 2,703,398). The GreenDragon also employs pressurized CO2 to launch each sphere over a longdistance, and this is normally mounted on a truck or a UTV type vehicleas opposed to being used by a person on foot. All three products(hereafter referred to as PyroShot) are intended exclusively for use byground, as opposed to aerial, deployment, and all three are usedindependently of a PSD. To be clear on this last point it should beexplained that the term PSD has become commonly used to describe thosefour previously mentioned machines that drop incendiary spheres from ahelicopter. Strictly speaking PyroShot could just as rightly be referredto as a PSD, because it does in fact dispense-plastic-spheres; thePyroShot includes all the mechanisms necessary to inject the incendiarysphere with reactant before it launches it. Thus, a main differentiationbetween PyroShot and the present invention is that PyroShot is astand-alone gun, or system, which maneuvers, injects and then launchesincendiary spheres, while the present invention is an apparatus that isexclusively used only to receive charged incendiaries from an existingPSD machine and then launch them. Most significantly however it isunderstood, in consideration of the main job that the present inventionis designed to do, namely the launching of incendiary spheres, thatthere are no obvious similarities between PyroShot and the presentinvention in the manner in which they accomplish that task. PyroShotemploys either a spring release, or, gas pressure for motive power tolaunch the incendiary sphere, whereby the present invention employsspinning wheels to do so.

The applicant is aware of no other relevant art in addition to that asdescribed above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The general objective of the present invention is to provide anapparatus for launching incendiary spheres (hereinafter referred to as“Ball-Thrower”). This Ball Thrower is used to receive ‘charged’, orinjected, spherical plastic incendiaries, then throw, or ‘launch’ them,for a distance. These charged incendiaries are first emitted from aconventional PSD machine into the Ball-Thrower's intake (7) whereuponthey roll down into a low point slotted ‘basin’ (33), from which theyare picked up individually immediately upon entry and carried by a‘delivering wheel’ (32) to a juncture point between two spinning wheels.These spinning wheels convey velocity to the incendiary, which is thenthrown in a trajectory that is determined by the plane of orientation,and the rotational velocity of the spinning wheels. Although the planeof orientation of the spinning wheels is fixed at a constant angle aboutthe horizontal axis, considering the vertical axis, the entire BallThrower assembly (50) is capable of approximately 180 degrees or more ofazimuth rotation. Therefore, the direction that the incendiary islaunched is controlled by means of orientation of the whole apparatus,while the distance the incendiary travels is controlled by adjusting theRPM of the spinning wheels. It is to be understood that, in thepreferred embodiment described herein, although we use the example oftwo spinning wheels, this desired launching effect could logically bejust as well accomplished by a variety of possible spinning wheelconfigurations; for instance this could be accomplished by a singlespinning wheel biased to a kick plate, or by contact with three or evenmore spinning wheels. In teems of ensuring that the Ball-Throwerfunctions with adequate speed (measured in BPM, or balls-per-minute),and, with maximum reliability, the most critical elements of the designare those involved in the job of delivering the incendiary spheres tothe spinning wheels. These critical elements include, the deliveringwheel (32) and the slotted basin (33), which will be described in moredetail during the discussion of the “feeder assembly” which follows.

The central structural component of the overall Ball-Thrower (50) is aMain Base Plate assembly (48). On its upper surface, main base plate (1)includes the necessary features for mounting a PSD machine. It includesa center mount hole where a pin-bolt is installed. This pin-bolt focusthe vertical axis upon which the overall Ball-Thrower assembly,including the PSD on top of it, is rotated for the purpose of launchingincendiaries in the desired direction. The main base plate also includesan intake tube (7) through which incendiaries first enter thethrower-head, and it includes mounting aims to attach the thrower-headassembly. The thrower-head is a separate piece that mounts to this mainbase plate assembly, and which includes all of the various mechanismsinvolved in the actual task of launching the incendiary.

The central structural component of the thrower-head is the spinner baseplate (8). This plate mounts all of the main elements of thethrower-head. It includes recesses to mount three bearings. It includesan opening through which the body of an electric motor with a pulley onits shaft passes. The motor is mounted by inserting bolts throughelongated bolt holes adjacent to this motor opening. The bolt holes areelongated so that the bolts can be moved as necessary to adjust tensionon the timing belt, or, to install or remove the belt. This plate alsoincludes a clearance cut-out (55), on both sides of which are recesseswith bolt holes. The cut-out and recesses are for the purpose ofmounting the forward end of the feeder assembly. On the opposite sideare bolt holes (13) used to mount the aft end of the feeder assembly.

Mounted parallel to the spinner base plate is a bearing block (15).Spacers are added, and the bearing block is bolted to the spinner baseplate, creating, in effect, a single piece with two separated parallelplates. To so connect, the three bolt holes in the bearing block arefirst aligned with the identical-pattern three bolt holes in the spinnerbase plate. The bearing block also includes three identical-patternbearing mount holes which align with the bearing mount recesses in thespinner base plate. The bearing block further includes a clearancecut-out that precludes interference of the feeder assembly, and it alsoincludes on both sides, two clearance holes that allow insertion of aquick-connect positioning pin, and a threaded hole for insertion of thebolts that connect the entire thrower-head assembly to the main baseplate (48). Before connecting these two plates together, bearings areinstalled, spacer keys and pulleys are aligned, and three keyed shaftsare inserted through all three bearing sets, at which point all threepulleys are installed. In the preferred embodiment these three aretiming pulleys, one of which is an idler pulley which is used only todirect the path of the timing belt, while the two remaining pulleys willcounter-rotate the two shafts that drive the spinner-wheels. The pulleysare all positioned between the plates, but the two shafts that drive thespinner-wheels extend beyond the lower surface of the spinner baseplate. The spinner-wheels are attached to these two shaft extensions,and are keyed and secured with a ring clip. With the installation of thespinner-wheel motor, and a two-sided timing belt, the Ball-Throwerassembly is complete with the exception of the feeder assembly.

The central component of the feeder assembly is the delivering wheel(32). The function of the delivering wheel is to scour incendiaries fromthe sump and deliver them to an exact desired junction point between thespinning wheels. On the outer circumference of the delivering wheel is astraight surface which terminates in a concave half-circle. This concavehalf-circle is of a diameter that matches the outside diameter of thesphere that it is designed to manipulate, in other words, the incendiaryfits exactly or near exactly within the half-circle concave surface onthe circumference of the delivering wheel. This combination of a flatsurface and a concave half-circle, for the sake of brevity, will bereferred to as the “cavity”. It should be understood that the deliveringwheel will perform its delivering function equally well if it includedany number of cavities. The delivering wheel in operation, as previouslymentioned, must be capable of delivering whatever number of incendiariesper-unit-of-time (BPM) at a varied and adjustable rate, that arepresented to it. It is necessary therefore to ensure that the“cavities-per-minute” presented to the incendiary stream is at leastequal to the maximum BPM rate at which the incendiaries could possiblyexit the PSD. Otherwise, a back-log of un-launched incendiaries would bethe natural result, and this would lead to disastrous consequences,namely the ignition of incendiaries still inside the Ball-Thrower, or inthe worst case, since the sphere pathway between the PSD and theBall-Thrower is connected and open, ignition within the PSD machine.There is obviously a relationship between the RPM (revolutions perminute) of the delivering wheel (32) and the cavities-per-minute thatany particular RPM results in, and just as obviously, the number ofcavities-per-minute per RPM is further dependent on the number ofcavities on the wheel. Therefore, in terms of presenting a certainminimum number of cavities-per-minute, it is seen that, if the totalnumber of cavities in the wheel is less, then the RPM must be more. Thepotential problem with higher RPM is that the higher it becomes thehirer becomes the rotational velocity of the protruding high point ofthe cavity, and the faster that is, the greater there is a tendency tosometimes rebound the incendiary off that high point. The purpose of thewheel is to entrap the incendiary, not to rebound it. To optimize thisconsideration, the present invention in the described embodiment employsfive such cavities on the delivering wheel, and it rotates that wheel atan RPM that presents cavities at a rate that is higher than the ejectionrate of the fastest PSD machine, but slow enough to minimize theunwanted rebounding effect.

The delivering wheel is mounted on a driveshaft. This driveshaft isdriven by a motor. On either side of the delivering wheel are spacerswhich are keyed to the shaft. The delivering wheel, driveshaft and twospacers are mounted between two sidewalls. These sidewalls includeexternally mounted bearings through which the driveshaft passes. On oneside, the driveshaft extends beyond the bearing, and it is on thisextended side that a motor which rotates the driveshaft is mounted. Amotor-shaft to drive-shaft adapter piece is installed for this purpose.When assembled, the internal distance between the sidewalls is slightlygreater than the diameter of the spherical incendiary. This internaldistance is maintained on the forward, or discharge, end by spacers thatare bolted through each sidewall. On the aft, or intake end, thedistance is maintained, and the sidewalls are joined, trough theinterceding interference of an L-shaped piece. This L-shaped piece,called a slotted basin (33), performs several critical functions: itserves as a ramp that the incendiary rolls down upon, it serves as astop at the bottom, or basin, of that ramp, and, it serves to hold thatincendiary in an exact position momentarily until a cavity of thedelivering wheel (32) entraps that incendiary and delivers it upwards toa center junction point between the two spinning wheels. At the bottomof the slotted basin, as its name suggests, is a slot or opening. It isthrough that slot that the outer circumference of the delivering wheelrotates.

The feeder assembly also includes two tabs attached to its intake end,and a plate on its discharge end; these are used to attach the feederassembly to the spinner base plate (8).

The above described mechanisms collectively form the preferredembodiment of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings which show by way of example the preferred embodiment ofthe invention are as follows:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the top of the Main Base Plate assembly;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the top of the Spinner Base Plate;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the Bearing Block;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the Spinner-Wheels;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the Spinner-Wheel assembly with thetiming belt installed. The spinner-wheel assembly is not complete inthis figure because the bearing block has been removed so that thetiming belt can be viewed.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the Delivering Wheel;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the Delivering Wheel and the SlottedBasin;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the Feeder Assembly;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the assembled Thrower Head;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the Apparatus for Launching IncendiarySpheres otherwise described herein as the Ball-Thrower assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1 to10. (NOTE: part numbers that are indicated in brackets are parts thatare shown elsewhere than on the drawing being referenced.)

FIG. 1 shows the main base plate assembly 48. Plate 1 is engraved withidentical slots 2 a and 2 b which are designed for the slidingengagement of a reversed T-shaped tab (T-shaped tab not shown). Clevisbracket 3 is used for engagement of a quick-release pin (pin not shown).These three features, 2 a, 2 b and 3, are the means by which aconventional PSD machine, for instance the Spitfire™, is connected tothe Ball-Thrower. Hole 4 is for engagement of a pin-bolt (not shown)which forms the vertical axis around which the entire Ball-Thrower,including the PSD mounted on top of it, is rotated for the purpose ofadjusting the direction in which the incendiary sphere is launched.Identical aims 5 a and 5 b are used to attach and align the thrower-headassembly (49 as shown in upcoming FIG. 9) by use of bolts 6 a and 6 b.Incendiaries enter the thrower head through tubular intake piece 7 whichis precisely aligned with the discharge tube of the PSD.

FIG. 2 shows spinner base plate 8. Elongated hole 9 is for clearance toposition an electric motor equipped with a timing pulley. Slots 10 a, 10b and 10 c are clearance holes for the bolts used to attach the electricmotor. Holes 9, 10 a, 10 b and 10 c are all elongated so that the motorand its pulley can be positioned for the purpose of adjusting tension onthe timing belt, or for installing or uninstalling the timing belt.Identical recesses 11 a, 11 b and 11 c are press-fit holes to installbearings; the bearing in 11 c will mount the lower end of a shaft thathas an idler pulley and the bearings in 11 a and 11 b will mount thelower end of the two shafts that drive the spinner-wheels. Identicalrecesses 12 a and 12 b are for the purpose of mounting the aft, orintake, end of the feeder assembly shown in FIG. 8; the rounded notchbetween these two recesses is a clearance cut-out to accommodate thissame feeder assembly. Four threaded holes 13 are used to bolt theforward, or discharge, end of the feeder assembly to the spinner baseplate. Clearance holes 14 a, 14 b and 14 c are for bolts to attach thisplate to the bearing block that will be described in FIG. 3. Also shownare three cut-outs in this plate that are for weight reduction purposesonly.

FIG. 3 shows a plate called the bearing block. Bearing block 15 includesthree press-fit bearing holes 16 a, 16 b and 16 c; the center-pointpattern of these holes is identical to holes (11 a), (11 b) and (11 c)in the spinner base plate (8), therefore the three shafts (22 a, 22 b,and 22 c) that are mounted by the bearings in these six press-fit holesare fully aligned and parallel. These three shafts (22 a, 22 b, and 22c) hold the three driven timing pulleys, two of which drive thespinner-wheels (25 a and 25 b), and one of which is an idler pulley (25c) used to position the timing belt (51). Clearance cut-out 17 createsroom for the feeder assembly to be shown in FIG. 8. Clearance holes 18 aand 18 b are for insertion of quick-connect pins, and so are holes 19 aand 19 b. The quick-connect pins (not shown) are used to lock the entirethrower head (49) in either its operational position, or in itsstorage/transport position. It is seen that just inboard of all four ofthe last mentioned holes is a cavity; the purpose of this cavity is toallow the small spring-loaded ball bearings of the quick-connect pin tospring outwards and perform their locking function once the pin is fullyseated. Bolts 6 a and 6 b are used to mount thrower head assembly (49)to arms (5 a and 5 b) of the main base plate assembly (48). Bolt holes20 a, 20 b and 20 c are used to mount the bolts and spacers that joinbearing block 15 to spinner base plate (8). Cut-out 21 is for weightreduction.

FIG. 4 shows the spinner-wheel assembly 54 which includes, in thisexample of one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention,two spinner-wheels 28 a and 28 b as shown. These spinner wheels aremounted beside each other in a shared plane such that the space betweenthe two wheels where they are closest to one another is justfractionally less than the diameter of the spherical incendiary thatthey convey velocity to by means of frictional contact. Both spinnerwheel assemblies are identical; examining the upper of the two depictedin the drawing, we see that driveshaft 22 a which includes a keyway isinstalled, in order, inside bearing 23 a, spacer 24 a, timing pulley 25a, bearing 26 a, spacer 27 a, and spinner-wheel 28 a on which isinstalled O-ring 29 a. Also shown is the idler assembly, this idlerassembly is identical to the spinner-wheel assembly as described above,except that it does not include a spinner-wheel, and its shaft isaccordingly that much shorter, and also spacer 24 c is of largerdiameter, and pulley 25 c is of smaller diameter.

FIG. 5 is a view of the spinner-wheel assembly 47 with the double-sidedtiming belt 51 installed. In this view, in order to reveal themechanisms shown, bearing block (15) is not yet attached; the fullyassembled spinner-wheel assembly 47 including bearing block (15) is seenin its entirety in upcoming FIG. 9. Main motor 52 rotates main drivepulley 53 in a clockwise direction which causes timing pulley 25 b andspinner wheel 28 b to rotate in an anti-clockwise direction, and timingpulley 25 a and spinner wheel 28 a to rotate in a clockwise direction.

FIG. 6 shows the Delivering Wheel 32. It is seen that the exteriorcircumference 30 of delivering wheel 32 includes a number of straightand curved surfaces; these surfaces in fact form five identicalsegments. To define one of these five segments we can begin atcross-section line a. and proceed clockwise to cross-section line b.then to cross-section line c. The line from a. to b. is straight, whilethe portion from b. to c. fauns what may be referred to as a ‘hook’, butthe entire outer circumference from a. to c. forms a single segmentwhich hereafter is referred to as the “cavity”. This cavity representsone fifth, or 72 degrees of a circle and it is repeated four more timesbeginning at c., then d.1, then d.2, then d.3, thus completing the full360 degrees, and defining a delivering wheel that includes fiveidentical cavities. The concave curved portion of the ‘hook’ isdimensioned to mate with the outside diameter of the incendiary sphere.This concave curve, during rotation of the delivering wheel makescontact with about 180 degrees of the centerline of each incendiary,then as a result of further rotation of the delivering wheel, deliverseach incendiary to a center point between the spinning-wheels, at whichpoint the wheels grab the incendiary and launch it.

Although the above describes a delivering wheel with five identicalsegments, it is understood that the delivering wheel could equally wellperform its function if it consisted of a number of cavities other thanfive.

FIG. 7 shows the delivering wheel 32 in relation to the “slotted basin33. The delivering wheel is mounted on driveshaft 31. Also shown isslotted basin 33. This is called a ‘basin’ because protruding features34 on its lower end will act as a stop for any incendiary that rollsdown upon surface 35; these protruding features will also serve to holdthat incendiary in an exact position until it is picked up by a cavityof the delivering wheel, and then delivered to the junction pointbetween the spinning-wheels. It is called ‘slotted’ because it includesslot 36 within which the hooked portion of each cavity of the deliveringwheel moves. As will be seen in the following FIG. 8, both objects shownhere, namely, the delivering wheel assembly and the slotted basin, aremounted, and held in the relationship to one another as depicted here bytheir attachment to identical sidewalls' (38 a and 38 b in FIG. 8),which are positioned on both sides of these two objects. Shaft 31 passesthrough holes in these sidewalls, and slotted basin 33 is bolted betweenthe sidewalls by passing bolts through holes 37.

FIG. 8 depicts the feeder assembly 46 in its assembled state. Slottedbasin 33 and delivering wheel 32 are sandwiched between substantiallyidentical sidewalls 38 a and 38 b. The slotted basin is bolted throughholes 39 of the sidewalls which line up with holes (37) in the slottedbasin (as shown in the previous drawing). The sidewalls are furtherattached to one another by bolted spacers aligned through holes 40 a, 40b, 40 c and 40 d and by endplate 41 which attaches to the forward, ordischarge, end of the sidewalls. The interior width between thesidewalls after they are so assembled is just slightly greater than theoutside diameter of the spherical incendiary. Both ends of thedelivering wheel driveshaft pass through externally mounted identicalbearings 42 a and 42 b (42 b is out of sight in this view). Motorassembly 43 is coupled to the delivering wheel driveshaft (31 inprevious drawing) and is attached to sidewall 38 a. L-shaped brackets 44a and 44 b are attached to the aft, or intake, end of the feederassembly; these are used to attach the feeder assembly to spinner baseplate (8). The four bolt holes 45 seen in the upper edge of endplate 41are used to attach the forward, or discharge, end of the feeder assemblyto spinner base plate (8).

FIG. 9A and 9B shows assembled Thrower Head assembly 49 which includesfeeder assembly 46 attached to spinner-wheel assembly 47; also shown ismain motor 52 with main drive pulley 53 attached to the main motorsdriveshaft. FIG. 9A shows detail viewed from above, FIG. 9B shows detailviewed from below.

FIG. 10 shows the Ball-Thrower 50 in its final assembled state(excluding the timing belt 51), including feeder assembly 46, which isattached to spinner-wheel assembly 49, which is attached to main baseplate assembly 48.

1. An apparatus for launching incendiary spheres which includes: (a) aplurality of spinning wheels which are used to convey velocity to saidincendiary spheres; and (b) a delivering wheel which carries saidincendiary spheres to a desired position relative to said plurality ofspinning wheels; and (c) means to provide rotational velocity to saidplurality of spinning wheels; and (d) means to provide rotationalvelocity to said delivering wheel.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherebysaid delivering wheel includes a cavity or a plurality of substantiallyidentical cavities which capture and transport said incendiary spheresduring the rotation of said delivering wheel.
 3. The apparatus of claim2 wherein at least a portion of the outer circumference of saiddelivering wheel passes between at least a portion of the space betweenthe outer circumferences of said plurality of spinning wheels during therotation of said delivering wheel.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2 whereby aslotted basin is employed to allow the capture of the incendiary sphereby said delivering wheel.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4 whereby theslotted basin includes an opening through which said delivering wheelpasses during its rotation.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5 whereby saidslotted basin is a low-point within the apparatus where said incendiarysphere comes to rest.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein saidincendiary spheres contain an incendiary material such as potassiumpermanganate which has been injected with a reactant such as ethyleneglycol.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of theouter circumference of said delivering wheel passes between at least aportion of the space between the outer circumferences of said pluralityof spinning wheels during the rotation of said delivering wheel.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 1 whereby a slotted basin is employed to allow thecapture of the incendiary sphere by said delivering wheel.
 10. Anapparatus for launching incendiary spheres which includes: (a) aplurality of spinning wheels which are used to convey velocity to saidincendiary spheres; and (b) a delivering wheel which carries saidincendiary spheres to a desired position relative to said plurality ofspinning wheels; and (c) means to provide rotational velocity to saidplurality of spinning wheels; and (d) means to provide rotationalvelocity to said delivering wheel; (e) whereby said delivering wheelincludes a cavity or a plurality of substantially identical cavitieswhich capture and transport said incendiary spheres during the rotationof said delivering wheel; (f) wherein at least a portion of the outercircumference of said delivering wheel passes between at least a portionof the space between the outer circumferences of said plurality ofspinning wheels during the rotation of said delivering wheel; (g)whereby a slotted basin is employed to allow the capture of theincendiary sphere by said delivering wheel; (h) whereby the slottedbasin includes an opening through which said delivering wheel passesduring its rotation; (i) whereby said slotted basin is a low-pointwithin the apparatus where said incendiary sphere comes to rest; and (j)wherein said incendiary spheres contain an incendiary material such aspotassium permanganate which has been injected with a reactant such asethylene glycol.